Security has been greatly bolstered around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and other senior officials following the elimination of top Houthi leaders in Yemen, a report said Sunday, as the jihadist rebels vowed revenge.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the Shin Bet has been taking “special and unusual” measures to protect the senior officials.

Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser Al-Rahawi, the prime minister of Yemen’s Houthi government — a rebel entity that has been fighting the country’s internationally-recognized government — and a series of other ministers were killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday on the capital Sanaa, the Houthis and the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Saturday.

The leader of the Houthis, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, said on Sunday that the group would keep launching attacks against Israel, vowing to continue “targeting Israel with missiles and drones” and to escalate these attacks, in a speech broadcast on the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV.

He added that recent Israeli strikes on rebel-held areas of Yemen would not weaken the group or discourage its fighters.

The Houthi leader said in his speech that “the coming days will see additional success… in thwarting the Israeli enemy’s attempts to commit crimes against our dear people or to target official institutions and cities.”

The Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile attacks on Israel since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 with Palestinian terror group Hamas’s onslaught in southern Israel.

Israel has been striking Houthi targets for months in response to the rebels’ attacks, which they claim are in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting was held Sunday in a secure, undisclosed location following the Houthi threats, though Netanyahu dismissed the threats during that meeting.

“In every one of his speeches, [Houthi leader] al-Houthi promises he will strike Israel, that he will destroy Israel. That’s written on their flag,” he said, referring to the Houthi official slogan that calls for “Death to Israel” and “A curse on the Jews.”

“That promise will not be fulfilled,” he vowed. “But our promise — to strike the terror regime with increased force — is being fulfilled. In a deadly blow, the IDF eliminated most of the Houthi government and additional military officials.”

He said that Israel would continue working to assassinate senior Houthi officials: “This is only the beginning of the campaign targeting senior officials in Sanaa. We will reach all of them.”

Netanyahu also boasted that the Western and Arab coalitions that have attacked the Houthis in the past were unable to achieve what Israel has, and said that ever since the 12-day war with Iran in June, Israel has been “striking the remaining parts of the axis systematically — day after day, front after front.”

A Yemeni security source told AFP on Saturday that Houthi authorities had arrested dozens of people in Sanaa and other areas “on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.”

On Sunday, the United Nations said the Houthis had detained at least 11 workers in raids on UN premises. There was no immediate comment from Houthi authorities on the raids.

Late Sunday, British maritime security firm Ambrey said that a Liberia-flagged, Israeli-owned tanker had reported an explosion nearby, southwest of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port city of Yanbu.

A vessel reported “a splash in close proximity from an unknown projectile and heard a loud bang,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said, adding that the vessel’s crew were all safe and it was continuing to its next voyage.

In a later update, Ambrey said it assessed the vessel to be “aligned with” the targets of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis’ profile, given that it was publicly Israeli-owned.

It was not immediately clear if the Houthis were involved, and the group did not provide immediate comment on the reported incident. UKMTO did not identify the party responsible, but said authorities were investigating.

Since 2023, the Houthis have also been attacking vessels in the Red Sea that they deem to be affiliated with Israel, also purportedly in support of Gaza.